Spring for vehicles



(No Model.)

B. C. TEGKTONIUS.

SPRING FOR VEHICLES.

' Patented Oct. 7, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICEt EMIL C. TECKTONIUS, OF RACINE, VISCONSIN.

SPRING FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,733, dated October '7', 1890.

Applicationfiled July 23, 1890- $eria1No. 359,665. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL CHRISTOPHER TECKTONIUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Racine, in the county of Racine and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Springs for Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in springs for vehicles; and the object of the invention is to securea more easy-ridin g spring with a light load than is possible to attain by springs as heretofore constructed, and at the same time to make the spring capable of resisting a heavy load without in any way impairingits efficiency and elasticity.

\Vith these and other ends in view my invention consists in the combination, with a vertically-movable bolster, of a curved spring arranged below said bolster and attached at its middle thereto to leave the end of said spring free, and another spring arranged below the first-named spring and having on each side of its point of attachment to the bolster a compound curve, which contacts with the vehicle-bed and with the upper spring, as will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

To enable others to understand my invenvention, I will now proceed to a detailed description thereof, in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I is an elevation of a vehicle-spring constructed in accordance with my invention and showing the position of the parts when a minimum load is sustained by the vehicle. Fig. II is a similar elevation showing the parts in the position when the vehicle is subjected to a heavy load. Fig. III is a detail perspective view of a portion of the two springs, showing one form of the means employed for preventinglateral displacement or separation of the two springs.

Like numerals of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawin gs, referring to which- 1 designates the bed of an ordinary vehicle;

' 2, the upright fixed standard at the ends of bed, and 3 is the vertically-movable bolster arranged above the bed, and. which is provided at its ends with grooved guide-irons 4, which irons fit around or engage with the standards and serve to guide its vertical reciprocating movements and prevent lateral or sidewise displacement of the same.

5 is the. upper spring, which is arranged below the vertically-movable bolster, and is attached at its middle to the said bolster by means of clips 6. This upper spring 5 is curved or arched continuously throughout the length thereof, and as it is attached at its middle to the bolster the ends of said spring are free from contact with the bolster.

7 is the lower spring, which is in the form of a double compound curve. The curvature or arch of this curved lower spring 7 is greatest at the middle of the same, and at this arched portion 8 of said lower spring the clips 6 are fastened to the spring or engaged with the same to attach said lower spring at its middle to the bolster in a similar manner to the attachment of the upper spring to said bolster. The curved portions 9 of the lower spring on opposite sides of the arched central portion 8 thereof rest on the top of the bed 1, While the free ends of said spring 7 are curved upwardly toward the free ends of the upper spring 5, the free ends of the two springs be ing thus in contact with each other. It will be noted that the compound curved lower spring 7 has four points of contact at intermediate points of the length of the same, two of such points of contact being with the bed and the other remaining two points of contact with the free ends of the upper spring 5.

By thisoonstruction and arrangement of the springs, I am enabled to impart a free easy carriage and resilient motion to the body of the vehicle when a light load is placed thereon; but when the vehicle-body is loaded heavily the bolster and the springs are depressed in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings-that is to say, the bolster slides downward in the standards, the upper spring is nearly straightened out, and the compound curved lower spring is, in like manner, dis tanced longitudinally and compressed laterally with relation to the upper spring. The efliciency and resiliency of the two springs are not impaired, however, by the weight of the burden on the vehicle-body, because of the fact that the lower compound curved spring is sustained from any material injury by reason of its four bearing-surfaces of contact, which, as before explained, serve to distribute the strain on thefspring equally throughout the length of the same, whereby when the load is removed the springs resume their normal posit-ions, indicated in Fig. I of the drawings.

To prevent separation or displacement of the free ends of the springs and permit of the compression of said springs under a heavy or excessive load, I prefer a sliding connection between the free ends of such springs. This sliding connection is more clearly shown in detail in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and, as indicated therein, one of the springs has its free ends slotted or provided with a recess 10,

which receives a rib or projection 11 on the corresponding end of the other spring. The rib of one spring is free to slide in the recess or slot of the other spring when the springs are compressed, as described; but the springs do not become separated, and hence they cannot become displaced laterally on each other.

In order to prevent the displacement of the springs on the bed of the vehicle when the springs and bolster are depressed under a heavy load, the outer extremities of the lower spring are bent abruptly downward, as at 11, whereby the bent ends 11 are adapted to rest on the bed when said springs are depressed, and hence lateral displacement of the connected springs is prevented by reason of the contact of one of the springs with said bed.

The operation and advantages of my invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings.

Changes in the form and proportion of parts and details of construction can be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages of my invention, and I would therefore have it understood that I reserve the right to make such modifications as fairly fall within the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invent-ion, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- I I 1. The combination, with a bolster and bed of a vehicle, of the upper and lower springs arranged longitudinally with relation to each other and attached at their middle, one of said springs being curved, substantially as shown and described, to contact, respectively, with the other spring and with the vehicle at intermediate points of the length of the said spring, the ends of both springs being normally free from contact with the vehicle, for the purpose described, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a movable bolster and a bed, of an upper spring attached to said bolster, and a lower spring also attached to the bolster at its middle and bent or curved to bear against the bolster and the upper spring at two points on both sides of its point of connection with its movable bolster, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a bed and a movable bolster, of an arched upper spring attached at its middle to said movable bolster and having the end thereof free from contact with said bolster, a curved lower spring, also attached at its middle to the movable bolster, each end of the lower spring having the form of acompound curve to contact with the bed at an intermediate point of the length of said spring and at the free end with the corresponding end of the upper spring, substantially as described.

4. The combination, witha bed and a movable bolster, of an arched upper spring and a lower spring connected at its middle to the bolster and having its ends curved to provide four contact points or surfaces, two of such contact-surfaces being with the bed at intermediate points of the length of the spring, and the remaining contact-surfaces being with the free ends of the arched upper spring, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with abed and abolster, of an upper spring and a lower spring attached to said bolster and bent to contact with the bed and with the free ends of the upper spring, the ends of the springs being joined by a sliding connection to obviate separation of the springs when they are compressed laterally, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a bed and a movable bolster, of an arched upper spring and a lower spring attached with the upper spring at the middle of the bolster, said lower spring being curved to contact with the bed and the upper spring, and the free ends of the upper and lower springs being joined by a sliding connection formed by a rib on one spring fitting in a slot or recess on the other spring, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with abed and a bolster, of an upper spring and a lower spring which is curved throughout its length to contact with the bed and the upper spring, the lower spring being connected near its ends with the upper spring and provided with the abruptly-curved or bent portions 11, which are adapted to rest on the bed when the springs and bolster are depressed, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

E. O. TEOKTONIUS.

WVitnesses:

JNo. W. KNIGHT, ALBERT L. ANDERSON. 

